A Universe in His Eyes
by musicfoodships
Summary: John Watson is contentedly in a relationship with Mary Morstan, and has been for nearly a year. He loves her. But everything changes when he starts university and is roomed with the mysterious and enigmatic Sherlock Holmes.


Chapter 1

John stepped aside as a group of teenaged girls hurriedly walked past him, exchanging furtive glances and obvious blushes. He loathed the mall, everything about it, from the overpriced clothing to the tasteless food to the stares he never failed to attract from girls who always failed to attract him.

He didn't consider himself good-looking, more average than anything, with his short sandy hair, muddled blue-brown eyes, and average height, but apparently mall-going teens disagreed.

He would've liked nothing more at that moment than to walk through the nearest exit and be freed of that place, but he'd made plans with his girlfriend to meet at the bookstore. The task of getting there was made much more difficult by the fact that he'd only been in the mall once before, years ago, and it was annoyingly devoid of maps.

He'd been wandering around for nearly thirty minutes when he found himself at the entrance to the bookstore. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked in. Leaning against a shelf of mystery books near the front of the store was Mary. She had picked one out and was reading the back intently when John approached her.

"Hello, love," he grinned.

"Oh! Hi, John." Mary smiled back, giving him a peck on the cheek. "Look at this book I found, thought you might enjoy it." She held out the book she had been reading the back of. On the cover was a picture of a man smoking a pipe and pointing intensely at a set of footprints. John shook his head.

"Nah, I'm not really into mystery books."

Mary laughed. "You mean you're not really into reading."

"Well, that too." John set the book down and took Mary's hand as they starting wandering around the shop. "Was there a certain book you wanted to find?"

"No, just felt an urge to get something new. And I thought, 'better a book than new jewelry or something.'"

"Good thinking." John smiled at her. He loved that about Mary; she always put knowledge before material. She had three bookshelves filled to the brim with well-worn novels and articles and everything in between. Ever since John could remember, he'd been playing football, all his friends were footballers or rugby players, so he cherished any time he got to spend with Mary, whose mind was ten times stronger than any of their muscles.

John and Mary rambled about the store for a while, Mary picking up this book or that, and John flipping through some sports magazines before Mary found a science fiction book that piqued her interest. She bought it and they made their way to a coffee shop next door to relax.

"You find a table and I'll order." Mary said to John, handing him her book.

"You know my order?" John asked, surprised.

"Sure I do! I should by now, shouldn't I?" Mary winked and gave John a quick kiss before walking to the back of the line of people waiting to order. John found a table in the middle of the shop and sat down, inhaling the intoxicating scent of fresh coffee. He looked around at the lineup of mugs and bags of coffee beans assorted on the wall, and listened to the shouts of the baristas over the coffee grinder, smooth jazz playing softly in the background. A couple minutes later Mary arrived at the table, setting down an espresso for herself and a mocha for John.

"Thanks," John said, though he just preferred plain black coffee. He took a sip of his sickeningly sweet drink.

"Good?" Mary smiled. John gave an unconvincingly large grin. "So, how're you feeling about uni?"

John set down his drink and looked at Mary. "Bit nervous. But that's to be expected, isn't it? I'm definitely glad to be starting my life, but my mind keeps filling up with worst case scenarios, you know? I'll just have to wait and see how things go, I suppose."

"Yeah. I'm gonna miss you like crazy," Mary took John's hand in hers. "It's gonna be so strange, after four years of seeing each other every day to be living on opposite sides of the city. But we're gonna make it work. We always do, don't we?"

John cast his eyes towards the dark wood laminate finish of the table and nodded, though for the life of him he couldn't think of any situation which had forced him and Mary to 'make it work'. Their relationship was pushing a year and throughout that entire time he and Mary had sort of floated along. Neither one of them experienced any sort of loss or hardship, save the death of Mary's pet goldfish.

"Every weekend," Mary continued. "Every weekend, one of us'll drive across town and visit the other. If anything, I think this change will strengthen us."

"Yeah," John grunted, still thinking about how charmed their relationship had been, and wondering if Mary's words had any truth or if it was all just blind optimism.

"Moving on, there's something I've been wanting to tell you." Mary's tone grew more somber. "You know Beth?"

John racked his brain. He remembered countless times when the name Beth had been brought up in conversation, but the context had slipped his mind. "Yeah, I do." John decided that this would be the safest answer.

"So she and Andrew are going on 'vacation' this weekend." Mary airquoted the word vacation and coupled this with an eyeroll. "Andrew. Andrew has been one of _my _friends since year one! She wouldn't even know him if I hadn't introduced them and suddenly they're going on _vacation_ together!"

"They can't be friends?" John was puzzled at how emphatic Mary was about this vacation, whatever it was.

Mary looked at him searchingly. "No, you don't get it. They're not just friends, they both told me that they're going to a little secluded lodge out in the countryside. And they both acted very suspicious about the whole thing. That can only mean that they're together. Two of my best friends! And to make everything worse they're doing it behind my back. I mean, even though I'm going off to university that doesn't mean they can't even ask my permission first."

"They're throwing you a party." A deep and confident voice arose from the table next to them. John and Mary looked over to see a boy of about their age staring back at them.

"What?"

"This 'Beth and Andrew' are going to throw a party for you. Obviously. From what you have said you're leaving for uni soon and these friends are close to you but a year younger. They want to throw you a memorable party to send you off which is why they told you they wouldn't be available the weekend before most people, including you, are starting university. Judging by how defensive you are from the mere self-created notion that Beth and Andrew are involved, Beth is your best friend, and you've known her for most of your lifetime, so your parents must like her and trust her as well. This being said she will most likely throw you a surprise party this coming Friday at your home. Next time _think _before you jump to such… asinine conclusions."

And with that the boy stood up and strode out of the coffee shop.

"What the hell?" John stared incredulously at the empty seat of the strange boy, then turned to Mary. "Do you know him?"

"Never seen him before in my life. The way he said it was rather abrasive, but now that I think about it, what he said makes a lot of sense."

"He called you asinine, Mary. He's a prick."

"I don't know. I think he just saw things more clearly than I did. Now I'm feeling so guilty. I've been acting quite rude to Beth and Andrew. I think I'm gonna go call them and make amends. I know you weren't too close to either of them, so I'll invite you to the party Friday." Mary smiled and leaned over, giving John a quick kiss before whipping her phone out and darting out of the cafe. John didn't get the chance to protest. He just stayed seated, staring at the space where the boy had just been and wondering the same question over and over again: who _was_ that?


End file.
